A Kitchen Tale

By Liangliang

“Do you think I’m handsome? What do you say?” asked Chef Erpang abruptly in the back kitchen. He stood 1.7 meters and weighed nearly 90 kg. We roared with laughter and said jokingly, “Yes, yes, yes. You’re so good-looking. …” After laughing, I remembered the truth of being an honest person a sister fellowhiped about in a meeting some time ago. She said that an honest person always called a spade a spade. So I said to Chef Erpang earnestly, “You’re remarkably fat and not at all handsome.” On hearing the truth, he laid the spoon down and came up to me. Then, putting one of his strong arms round my neck, he said, “Zhang, say that again?” I knew that our relationship was the best in the restaurant, so I said to him again bravely, “Even if you strangle me, you’re still not handsome but you are remarkably fat.” After hearing my honest appraisal, he had no choice but to let me go. This elicited a fresh burst of laugh.

That afternoon, on my way to a church meeting I was in high spirits. It was the first time I had practiced being an honest person ever since I had started believing in God for over a year. Nowadays, people all take it for granted that those who say very nice things are popular and those who speak in a very straightforward manner are unpopular, and I was no exception. After the way I practiced that day, I felt it quite easy to pedal my bicycle. No sooner had I entered the parlor of the meeting house than I said excitedly to the brothers and sisters, “Today I practiced the truth of being an honest person….” After hearing my experience, they all grinned from ear to ear. Then one sister said, “This is not the practice of being honest people.” “What? It’s not the practice of being an honest person? Doesn’t being an honest person mean calling a spade a spade?” I asked, puzzled. She answered, “To be an honest person is to refrain from impurity in our speech and to tell the truth. That’s right. But most importantly, we should have no deceit in our hearts and have normal relationships with others. Don’t steer the middle course. Don’t be crooked or crafty. Don’t act in a slick way. Especially when it comes to personal interests, we can easily give up on our own intention to be honest. …”

After the meeting finished, on my way to work I contemplated the principles of being an honest person that were fellowshiped. I prayed to God silently, “O God! Through the sister’s fellowshiping I’ve come to know a bit of truth of being an honest man. May You arrange people, matters, and things to train me so that I can become a truly honest man.” God heard my prayer and arranged a situation very soon …

One day after breakfast, true to form, I was preparing the ingredients for cooking in the kitchen, where the boss, Chef Erpang, and other colleagues were all busy. Having cut the meat into slices, I recollected that the twice-cooked pork slices sold very well the day before, so I should prepare more pork slices. Then I looked in the refrigerator for the frozen meat, but could not find it, even after repeatedly searching for quite a long time. I was surprised, “Why, where’s the meat? I remember that the boss bought it yesterday. Has it grown legs and run away itself?” When I closed the refrigerator, it suddenly came to me that the pork was still in the big steamer, so I quickly went over to it. I had hardly opened its door when an odor of dead mice assailed my nose. I shut it quickly; my heart thumped. “I’m finished! I’m finished! I’m finished! Over 10kg of meat has been spoiled. What can I do?” I thought. I was immediately scared out of my wits. Just at the wrong time, the boss suddenly came over to me. He frowned and asked, “Why is there a smell of dead mice?” I didn’t dare to respond, because I didn’t know what to say. He did not ask again and left soon. Then I said quickly to Chef Erpang, “Actually, the odor of dead mice the boss just smelt is …” Then I opened the steamer. “Kid! Why were you so careless? How could you forget to take it out yesterday? …” said Chef Erpang aloud, surprised. I interrupted him anxiously, “Hey! Stop saying that! What am I going to do? That’s over 10kg of meat.” He thought for a second, and replied calmly, “No matter, Lao Zhang. I’m experienced in these matters. Listen to me. Wash it in cold water first, and then freeze it in the freezer immediately. We can sell it all the same.” I lost no time in doing so, but a thought suggested itself to me after I’d washed several pieces of meat: “Isn’t this trying to deceive everybody? I should admit my mistake to the boss because it’s surely my fault, which is what an open and above board man would do.” But then I changed my mind and thought: “If the boss finds out, he will not only dock my salary, but will definitely let fly at me with a stream of abuse.” At this last thought, I said tentatively to Chef Erpang, “Or … I might as well tell the truth to the boss? …” Chef Erpang hastened to cut in, “You’ve let me know, that’s enough. He will dock your salary if you tell him, and will probably scold you.” He said what I was thinking, and so my faint idea of avowing to the boss was abandoned right away. Then I hastily began to wash the meat again.

At around 2 p.m., on my way back to my dormitory, it felt quite hard to pedal my bicycle because I knew I had made a mistake. When I got home, my uneasiness became hard to bear. I suddenly thought of my last prayer, in which I’d begged God to arrange a situation for me to practice being an honest man. I thought: “Right! On the face of it, my encountering that matter was bad luck, but if I can seek the truth and be honest in compliance with God’s will, my spiritual life will grow, which cannot be purchased with any material thing.” After thinking of that, I came before God to pray, “O God! You answered my last prayer. But when this thing happened to me today, my heart wasn’t quiet before You in order to seek the truth, which left me exhausted mentally and physically. Now it has come to this point, and I fear that the boss will investigate to find who is responsible. O God! I beg You to give me direction.…” After the prayer, some of God’s words occurred to me, which are part of the principles associated with being an honest person: “Honesty means giving your heart to God, being genuine with God in all things, being open with Him in all things, never hiding the facts, not trying to deceive those above and below you, and not doing things only to curry favor with God. In short, to be honest is to be pure in your actions and words, and to deceive neither God nor man.” And God’s word also says, “In everything you do, you must examine whether your intentions are correct. If you are able to act according to the requirements of God, then your relationship with God is normal. This is the minimum standard. Look into your intentions, and if you find that incorrect intentions have arisen, be able to turn your back on them and act according to the words of God; thus will you become someone who is right before God, which in turn demonstrates that your relationship with God is normal, and that all that you do is for God’s sake, not your own. In all you do and all you say, be able to set your heart right and be righteous in your actions, and do not be led by your emotions, nor act according to your own will. These are principles by which believers in God must conduct themselves.” God’s words made me realize that an honest person can place everything in front of God and accept God’s searching. He or she is innocent and open before God, and there is no hypocrisy, falsehood, or cheating in what he or she says and does. That I forgot to take the meat out of the steamer was my carelessness in my work; it was my mistake, simple as that. However, when the boss found something was wrong and asked the cause, I only cared about my personal interests, and pretended not to know anything about it. Wasn’t this deceit? Much as I felt guilty afterward, I was still able to deliberately suppress the fact in order to safeguard my interests, to avoid being blamed by the boss, and to avert a salary deduction. Was this not deceiving others openly? God set up a situation for me to experience, and told me how to be honest; I, however, recoiled from it, and did what Erpang—who does not believe in God—said. My behavior was completely like that of an unbeliever. Thinking about this, I decided to apologize to the boss. No matter whether he would dock my salary, or scold me before my colleagues, I had to admit my fault, because this was the most elementary principle by which I, a believer in God, should act.

When evening came I went to work again. Before changing into my work clothes I went to the kitchen with a view to apologizing to the boss. Finding that the boss had not arrived yet, I spoke to Chef Erpang first, “I’ve decided to acknowledge my fault to the boss.” Hearing what I said, he quickly advised me, “You’ve told me; that’s enough. If the boss finds out, it won’t end well for you.” I had a little anxiety when hearing him say that, since I hardly ever chatted with the boss, even after working with him for so long, except for when it came to work stuff. But when I thought that God likes honest people and thought of the determination to practice the truth I’d made before I came to work, courage gathered anew in my heart, and the words of Chef Erpang then had no effect upon me. Very shortly afterward, the boss came, and just the sound of his voice made my heart gallop. So I prayed to God constantly in my heart and asked Him to give me courage. Then I went up to the boss, and, stifling my feeling of nervousness, said, “Boss, I have to admit a mistake to you.” He smiled, because I had never spoken to him so gravely and, moreover, I was making an apology. He said, “What is it?” “As a matter of fact, the odor of dead mice you smelled this morning was from the meat that I forgot to take out from the steamer yesterday. I’m sorry.” The moment I finished speaking, I felt especially relieved and had a joy beyond description in my heart. Unexpectedly, after hearing my apology, he said, “Oh, no matter. Be careful next time.” From the expression of his face, I saw that he was not angry and had no intention of reproaching me at all. At the same time, Chef Erpang was nodding and smiling at me. All of these unexpected outcomes let me really taste the sweetness of practicing being an honest person.

One evening some time later, I was eating and talking with Chef Erpang and another colleague. During our chat, Chef Erpang took a swallow of beer and sighed with emotion, “There’s one thing I most admire about you, Lao Zhang. It’s that you were able to acknowledge your mistake to the boss. … If it had been me, I would never have been able to do it.” Then he turned to our colleague and asked, “What about you?” The latter shook his head, “Neither would I.” On hearing all this, I offered up my praises to God silently in my heart, “Thanks be to God! But for God’s guidance, I couldn’t have done it either, because I was also one of the corrupt people who don’t have the truth and who need God’s salvation.”